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I flew back to Indonesia Tuesday night. Before that, I had to drop Blitzy off to the vet because she was scheduled to be spayed that evening. She had been diagnosed with pyometra days before, so it was decided that she will get fixed to prevent re-occurence of the infection.

My mom will be picking her up from the vet’s later this afternoon.

I came back one day before our two-day conference, which ended yesterday. I had booked a suite at the usual place in Menteng. I invited a friend to come with me and we will be going back to Semarang on Sunday.

This morning we went out to buy breakfast at the 711 across the street. It was closed. We went up instead and found an open Bakmi GM branch. I googled if there were other 711s close by and I was shocked to see that all the branches were listed as permanently closed. I looked it up and found a wiki entry that the 711s in Indonesia had all closed because of a failed acquisition. So sad.

So far, very relayed except for some annoyances at work. This year is going to be very interesting because of certain personalities. Lol. But anyway, I hope that this year will be much better than the last. I have a favourite class and this is their senior year. I intend to do all I can to ensure that they will get the best results for their external exams… I just hope that said personalities will not be an impediment to that. Hah.

I have more preparations this year, although I still have the same number of assigned teaching units. Somehow I am eager to start already. Somehow.

Past my second week here back home. It’s been relatively busy compared to other summers past. I finally got to visit this flat that I purchased, and am slowly furnishing it with my year-end bonus. Lol. I don’t want to take a loan so a real bed will have to wait.

And then something happened early last Saturday. My sister came home half past midnight, and she noticed that our dog Blitzen was sitting among the bushes and wasn’t coming to her. She realized that she couldn’t raise herself up with her hind legs. She woke me up, then I went to see Blitzy. She came to me, struggling to get up and walk, but she did go up the patio, where she typically sleeps, and lay down.

I woke up before six to look for her. I found her by the bushes again. I called to her but this time she couldn’t stand at all. She looked so weak and refused water. I was already freaking out because of the apparent severity of the matter. I asked my dad to go contract a jeepney (we don’t have a car) so we could take her to the vet. Then we had to struggle with how to get her to the road. Our house is about 200 meters away from the main road, and half of it is narrow and elevated. Blitzy was very heavy, and neither my dad nor I could carry her all the way, so I held a sling to support her hind legs and my dad pulled her in front. When we got to the stairs, my dad and I took turns carrying her, which was very difficult because it looked like she was trying to make herself heavy because she didn’t want to be lifted.

The vet clinic was in the next town, and we had to wait another half hour till the vet arrived. When she got examined, the vet noticed that she had pus coming out of her vulva. I didn’t notice that at all. She had just finished menstruating and I thought that white liquid that I noticed a few days ago when she walked away was just some normal post-period discharge.

So anyway, the vet diagnosed it as pyometra, which is a secondary infection due to the hormonal changes female dogs undergo after their period of heat and they did not get pregnant. Blitzy’s is of the open variety, which means that the cervix is open and that is why she has pus leaking out. The other type, closed, is more dangerous as the pus that builds up in the uterus can rupture and cause blood poisoning, much like appendicitis in humans.

Blitzy was admitted, hooked on an IV drip and given antibiotics. This morning I visited her and she was very pleased to see me, if her almost knocking over of the IV pole is any indication. She can stand and walk now, although she still has pus leaking out of her. I spent a couple of hours there hanging out with her at the waiting area at the confinement room while the vet attended to the other animals that were brought in. It is a Sunday and they were only open until noon, but there were a lot of patients coming in.

Blitzy wasn’t so excited seeing the other animals and was just there on the floor by my feet, eventually sleeping while I patted her. She was even so comfortable that she assumed her favorite spread eagled position. Goes to show how she has improved overnight.

I just felt sorry having to leave her there again. I asked the vet to just have her fixed when she is well enough for surgery. (The best treatment for pyometra is an ovariohysterectomy.) I only have a week before I fly off again. And if she is to have surgery, then at least I will be around to keep an eye on her when she recovers at home. Let’s see how it goes.

I won’t be able to see her tomorrow as I have to go to the flat to supervise the installation of the air conditioner and the TV. Perhaps before I go home on Tuesday I will come over and visit her again, unless she is sent home earlier sans getting spayed.

Been back home for three days now, and halfway til I go away again. It’s been a real lazy summer, minimal reading, planned to only see one friend, a scheduled visit to the internet provider and then getting my hair fixed afterwards. Okay, that was supposed to be done today, but then it was a little cloudy. In fact it showered, very briefly. But I can use any old excuse to stay at home.

Most of my time is wasted with playing Best Fiends. I did watch a couple of episodes of The Wire but today it is just laying back with them kitties, being a cat bed. I’ll sort out some of my books and see what I can bring along to the salon tomorrow.

As is typical in the Philippines, there are loud firecrackers and bright fireworks displays in neighbourhoods. Although the practice has been largely discouraged by the government due to accidents that result in injuries and amputations, there are still private individuals who buy fireworks in the belief that the loud noise will drive away evil and bring good fortune (although that is doubtful if you lose one or two fingers or worse); also because fireworks makes the new year more festive (this I can agree with).
Anyway, that being said, New Year’s Eve is the bane of our pets. The loud noise scares them. Neko hid in the walk-in closet. The other cats, with the exception of Basilio who stood chillaxed by the laundry, scampered away in search of a nook to get away from the explosive noise. One of the kittens, called Long-Tailed Ugly (yes), was missing for a couple of hours and came through the window that I left open at past 2 am.

But Blitzy was a revelation. Our labrador, who turned two as the clock struck twelve, seemed unbothered by all the racket. Perhaps she was appropriately named. Perhaps she is already deaf. Lol. We had to tether her to her leash because we were afraid that she would run to the firecrackers, because all night she had been running towards the direction of the noise. While we were having our midnight dinner, here she was by the door:

She seemed unperturbed by the firecrackers last year, too, according to my mother, but they had been proactive and let her inside the house. They thought that it was because it was her first NYE, she was still unafraid. New Year and Christmas had always been a stressful time for our dogs and cats. So it was a great thing to know that Blitzen is not scared of all the noise. I feel sorry when I see them scared shitless.

It’s the day before my flight back to Indonesia. Right now, spending time lying on the sofa, idly watching whatever is on the TV. I’m gonna miss just hanging out at home, even if it’s almost always uncomfortably hot. I didn’t catch up on my reading. I didn’t really go out except for meeting up with Rosa (twice), attending Tina’s wedding, and visiting my cousin. Fortunately I didn’t have to go to the POEA satellite office to procure an exit certificate. So it’s basically just me at home for three weeks. And it’s gonna be over soon.

I have an almost daily collection of kitty cat piles. I’m gonna spare the readers (if any?) by putting up only one.

Curious kittens smitten by the blue flame.

The five kitties with their grumpy great grandmother.

Orange was spayed last Saturday and had to spend time in our bedroom after surgery. She wasn’t used to not having a regular litter box and had peed only three times in two days. When she was let out, the first thing she did was go directly to the litter box and let out a huge poop. 💩 Never was it more satisfying to watch a pet defecate.

Basil visibly flinches as Neko stares at him.

Blitzy has become better-behaved.

I don’t know if I’m gonna be back during term break. My sister and I are playing with the idea of going to Singapore for a couple of days in October.

There were some repairs at the house again today. I was doing the laundry (by hand!) when the carpenter told me that the dog was on the bed. I went to the bedroom and there she was: Blitzy lying contentedly on my newly changed sheets. Lol. She looked so happy that I wished that I snapped a photo before I told her to get out. In a perfect world, my dog would be sleeping in my bed all the time. But this is the tropical Philippines and dogs are supposed to stay outside the house and bathed once a week. Sigh.

My brother, who is at home working on a project (I think) gave me some distressing news about this particular black lab.

A dead kitten was found a couple of days ago inside the property. We actually had a suspicion that it she killed it when it had strayed inside, as the other dogs in the street don’t pay any mind to cats. This dead kitten (who is not from our new litter) was buried. Then Blitzen took it out yesterday. She was caught and tied, and the cat buried again, a hollow block over the grave.

This morning my brother told me that the cat is not in its grave and nowhere to be found. The assumption is that Blitzen ate it. Ate an entire dead cat. Now my mom is threatening to sell the dog because of all the trouble she gets into.

It’s particularly distressing as we have a litter of five kittens. She might end up killing them should they step out of the house. And I have no idea how they can control her and not make her do just that, when it is likely that she had already killed and thought of cats (or kittens) as meal.